Stick checking, sweep checking, and poke checking are legal uses of the stick to obtain possession of the puck. The neutral zone trap is designed to isolate the puck carrier in the neutral zone preventing him from entering the offensive zone. Body checking is also a penalty in certain leagues in order to reduce the chance of injury to players. Often the term checking is used to refer to body checking, with its true definition generally only propagated among fans of the game. The hockey stick consists of a long, relatively wide, and slightly curved flat blade, attached to a shaft. A deep curve allows for lifting the puck easier while a shallow curve allows for easier backhand shots. It is quite distinct from sticks in other sports games and most suited to hitting and controlling the flat puck.
Since 2006, the us pond hockey championships have been played in minneapolis, minnesota, and the canadian national pond hockey championships have been played in huntsville, ontario. The kontinental hockey league is the largest and most popular ice hockey league in eurasia. The league is the direct successor to the russian super league, which in turn was the successor to the soviet league, Giummo the history of which dates back to the soviet adoption of ice hockey in the 1940s. The khl was launched in 2008 with clubs predominantly from russia, but featuring teams from other post-soviet states. The league expanded beyond the former soviet countries beginning in the 2011–12 season, with clubs in croatia and slovakia.
If a delayed penalty is signalled and the team in possession scores, the penalty is still assessed to the offending player, but not served. In 2012, this rule was changed by the united states' national collegiate athletic association for college level hockey.
The khl currently comprises member clubs based in belarus , china , finland , latvia , kazakhstan and russia for a total of 24. With interest in women's ice hockey growing, between 2007 and 2010 the number of registered female players worldwide grew from 153,665 to 170,872. Women's hockey is on the rise in almost every part of the world and there are teams in north america, europe, asia, oceania, africa and latin america. Several games were recorded in the 1890s in ottawa, ontario, canada. The women of lord stanley's family were known to participate in the game of ice hockey on the outdoor ice rink at rideau hall, the residence of canada's governor-general. An important defensive tactic is checking—attempting to take the puck from an opponent or to remove the opponent from play.
Its unique shape contributed to the early development of the game. A delayed penalty call occurs when a penalty offence is committed by the team that does not have possession of the puck. Because the team on which the penalty was called cannot control the puck without stopping play, it is impossible for them to score a goal. In these cases, the team in possession of the puck can pull the goalie for an extra attacker without fear of being scored on. However, it is possible for the controlling team to mishandle the puck into their own net.